Center for Regional Food Systems

10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms is a state-funded program that matches what schools and early care and education (ECE) sites spend on Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes with grants of up to 10 cents per meal. It is administered by the Michigan Department of Education.

The Michigan Department of Education submits a report every year to the state legislature about 10 Cents a Meal, to which 10 Cents partners contribute. This report outlines how many different fruits, vegetables, and legumes school and ECE grantees purchased last year with the grant, how many farms grew that food and where they are located, and how many additional businesses were impacted.

Read a short overview below, or download the full report to learn more!

More information about the 10 Cents a Meal program can be found at tencentsmichigan.org.

Purpose

• Improve daily nutrition and eating habits for children through the school and early childhood setting.
• Invest in Michigan agriculture and related local food business economy.

History

• Started as a state pilot project in 2016-2017 with $250,000 for a program serving 16 school districts and 48,000 students in 8 counties.
• Grew and developed over the next four years in pilot regions.
• Expanded into a statewide program in 2020-2021 with $2 million, 143 school districts and ECE sites, serving nearly 440,000 children in 50 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Additional information for the 2020-2021 year follows in this report.

Locations

• 129 districts and 14 ECE sites across the state ranging from urban Detroit to the rural Upper Peninsula, both regions where the program was not available before statewide expansion.
• All 10 regions of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators were represented.
• Map and listing of grantees on pages 5-7.

Impacts for Students and Young Children

• Preliminary results of evaluation surveys showed that nearly 64% of grantees reported that 10 Cents grants allowed them to try new products in their food service program that they would not have otherwise tried.
• New products tried for the first time were 32 types of vegetables and 14 types of fruits.
• Top 10 new Michigan-grown foods served were apples, asparagus, blueberries, dry beans/legumes, cherries, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, summer squash, and root vegetables.
• About 10% of grantees reported purchasing legumes for the first time.

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This report is authored by:

• Michigan Department of Education
• Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
• Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
• Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems

Read more about the five participating prosperity regions by downloading the full legislative report!